Presented with the opportunity to attend the Advanced Management Program (AMP), Chip Devine at first hesitated, reluctant to spend eight weeks away from work and family. In the end, his curiosity and desire for broader business knowledge won out. Returning to the office after the program, Devine was surprised to be offered a new position, but was ready for the challenge—thanks to AMP.
At AMP, I was the only person from my company. Living in a group of eight peers, with only three other executives from the United States, was a great experience. It was like finding seven new brothers and sisters. I came back with new ways to approach my role and new techniques for communicating within my company.
The AMP peer I'm closest to is a chief financial officer for a Moscow-based firm. We jogged along the river several times a week. You'd think we'd have little in common, but I learned a great deal from our conversations. I keep in touch with the majority of my living group, reaching out to them almost daily for advice. I look forward to maintaining these special friendships for a long time—and continuing to learn from each other.
The faculty and teaching styles varied—and all were outstanding. One-on-one meetings with professors helped to shape my thinking about our business challenges. I found it very instructive to talk with someone outside my company and my industry about how they would approach a given situation.
In class, one professor asked, "Can your value proposition be duplicated? If someone can replicate what you do, then it's really not a value proposition." That really stuck with me. I walked away thinking that we have to continue to extend our lead and do things in ways that are not so easily duplicated. For everything we do today, I ask myself: Can someone else do this and do it better?
To create a truly special company over the next 20 years, we're going to have to do things differently. Our executive team has designed a strategy for our future called "pillars of change." It lays out how we will evolve a world-class customer experience and an efficient business model. Many of the ideas have come from AMP.
Getting away from the business after being in roughly the same job for 20 years was extremely helpful. AMP has transformed me personally and professionally. About two and a half months after completing the program, I was asked to take on a new role at our headquarters. I believe that was part of my boss's goal in sending me to HBS—to prepare me for new challenges.
I'm not sure I would have taken on the new role without having attended AMP. It's a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience most people don't get to have. I feel honored—and I'd do it all over again.
